Transparency Disclosure (Article 50) #
This is the EU's chatbot and synthetic-media disclosure rule, and it is the provision that lines up against the 2026 US state companion-chatbot statutes. Article 50(1) turns on whether the artificiality would be obvious to a reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect person, which is the same conditional trigger Oregon and California use and the opposite of Washington's and Colorado's unconditional duty. Unlike Article 13 it sits in Chapter IV, so the Digital Omnibus deferral of Chapter III does not touch it and it applies from 2026-08-02.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|
| Interaction disclosure | Providers must design systems intended to interact directly with natural persons so those persons are informed they are interacting with an AI system, unless this is obvious to a reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect person (Article 50(1)) |
| Synthetic content marking | Providers of systems generating synthetic audio, image, video or text must mark outputs in a machine-readable format detectable as artificially generated or manipulated (Article 50(2)) |
| Emotion recognition and biometric categorisation notice | Deployers must inform natural persons exposed to emotion recognition or biometric categorisation systems of their operation (Article 50(3)) |
| Deepfake disclosure | Deployers generating or manipulating image, audio or video constituting a deepfake must disclose that the content is artificially generated or manipulated (Article 50(4)) |
| Generative AI grace period | Pre-existing generative AI systems on the market before 2026-08-02 have until 2026-12-02 to comply with Article 50(2) machine-readable marking (Article 111(4), inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) |
| Marking codes of practice | The Commission facilitates Union-level codes of practice for detection, marking and labelling of AI-generated or manipulated content, assesses their adequacy for Article 50(2) and (4), and may impose common rules by implementing act if a code is inadequate (Article 50(7), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) |
Penalties
| Violation | Fine |
|---|
| Transparency non-compliance (Article 50) | Up to EUR 15M or 3% global turnover (Article 99(4)) |
| Incorrect information | Up to EUR 7.5M or 1% global turnover (Article 99(5)) |
| SMC ceiling | For small mid-cap enterprises, each fine under Article 99(4)-(5) is capped at the lower of the percentage or the fixed amount (Article 99(6a), inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) |
High-Risk Transparency and Instructions for Use (Article 13) #
Deferred with the rest of Chapter III Sections 1-3 by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744: 2027-12-02 for systems high-risk under Article 6(2) and Annex III, and 2028-08-02 for systems high-risk under Article 6(1) and Annex I. The `Effective` field carries the earlier of the two. While bundled with Article 50 this duty was published as applicable from 2026-08-02, sixteen months early.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|
| Operational transparency | High-risk systems must be designed and developed so their operation is sufficiently transparent to enable deployers to interpret output and use it appropriately (Article 13(1)) |
| Instructions for use | High-risk systems must be accompanied by instructions for use in an appropriate digital format, containing concise, complete, correct and clear information accessible and comprehensible to deployers (Article 13(2)) |
| Provider identity | Instructions must state the identity and contact details of the provider and, where applicable, its authorised representative (Article 13(3)(a)) |
| Capabilities and limitations | Instructions must state intended purpose, the accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity metrics the system was validated against, foreseeable circumstances affecting those levels, and risks arising under intended use or reasonably foreseeable misuse (Article 13(3)(b)) |
| Explainability information | Where applicable, instructions must describe technical capabilities to provide information explaining the system's output (Article 13(3)(b)(iv)) |
| Human oversight measures | Instructions must describe the human oversight measures built in under Article 14, including technical measures facilitating output interpretation by deployers (Article 13(3)(d)) |
| Pre-determined changes | Where applicable, instructions must describe the changes to the system and its performance which the provider pre-determined at the moment of the initial conformity assessment (Article 13(3)(b)(vii)) |
| Expected lifetime and maintenance | Instructions must state expected lifetime and any necessary maintenance and care measures, including software updates (Article 13(3)(e)) |
Penalties
| Violation | Fine |
|---|
| High-risk non-compliance | Up to EUR 15M or 3% global turnover (Article 99(4)) |
| Incorrect information | Up to EUR 7.5M or 1% global turnover (Article 99(5)) |
| SMC ceiling | For small mid-cap enterprises, each fine under Article 99(4)-(5) is capped at the lower of the percentage or the fixed amount (Article 99(6a), inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) |
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